Dave Bristol

Dave Bristol
Manager
Born: (1933-06-23) June 23, 1933 Macon, Georgia
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 15, 1966, for the Cincinnati Reds
Last MLB appearance
October 5, 1980, for the San Francisco Giants
MLB statistics
Games	1424
Win–Loss record	657–764
Winning %	.462
Teams
Cincinnati Reds (1966–1969) Milwaukee Brewers (1970–1972) Atlanta Braves (1976–1977) San Francisco Giants (1979–1980)

James David Bristol (born June 23, 1933) is an American former manager in Major League Baseball in the 1960s and 1970s. He managed the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves, and San Francisco Giants during this period.

Success in the minors, and with the Reds

Bristol attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Western Carolina University. A right-handed hitting and throwing infielder, he never played in the Major Leagues. Bristol became a playing manager in the Cincinnati farm system at the age of 24 with the Hornell Redlegs of the Class D New York-Penn League in 1957. By 1964, he was managing the Reds' top farm team, the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, where, at age 31, he won a pennant and playoff title—the fifth league championship of his eight-year career to date. In nine seasons (1957–65) as a minor league pilot, his teams won 652 games and lost 562 (.537).

In 1966, Bristol was named to the Reds' coaching staff, and when the team performed badly under rookie skipper Don Heffner, Bristol took over the club as manager on July 13. At 33, he was the youngest pilot in the Major Leagues that season through 1969. Bristol guided the Reds through 3​¹⁄₂ winning seasons, but he was dismissed following the 1969 campaign. Sparky Anderson, who took over from Bristol, would go into the Baseball Hall of Fame as the leader of the "Big Red Machine".

Cincinnati (298–265, .529) represented the highwater mark of Bristol's managing career. He would never manage another winning club.

Later struggles as MLB manager

Not long after being fired by the Reds, Bristol was hired by the Seattle Pilots as the second manager in their history. He walked into a very difficult situation; the Pilots were on the verge of bankruptcy, and went to spring training not knowing whether they would play in Seattle or Milwaukee in 1970. Just six days before Opening Day, the Pilots got word they would be moving to Milwaukee as the Brewers. However, the Brewers assumed the Pilots' place in the American League West Division, and were thus saddled with the longest road trips in the league. As a result, Bristol was never able to put together a winning team, and was fired 30 games into the 1972 season.

In 1976, Bristol was hired as manager of the Atlanta Braves. Midway through the 1977 season, with the Braves mired in a 16-game losing streak, owner Ted Turner sent Bristol on a 10-day "scouting trip" and took over as his own manager. This only lasted for one game (a 2–1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates) before National League president Chub Feeney ordered Turner to give up the reins, citing major league rules which forbid managers or players from owning stock in a team. After the Braves broke the streak with third-base coach Vern Benson as interim manager, Bristol—who had returned to his offseason home in Andrews, North Carolina—was brought back to finish out what was at the time the worst season in the Atlanta portion of Braves history (61–101—including a 60–100 record by Bristol). He was fired at the end of the season. He last managed in MLB with the Giants late in the 1979 season and all of 1980 before he was replaced by Frank Robinson, prior to the 1981 season. He finished with a career managerial record of 657 win and 764 defeats (.462).

In addition to his rookie MLB season with Cincinnati, Bristol also served as the third-base coach of the Montreal Expos (1973–75) and Giants (1978–79), plus two terms with the Philadelphia Phillies (1982–85; 1988), and two additional stints with the Reds (1989; 1993).

External links

• Baseball-Reference.com – career managing record

Preceded by first manager	Hornell Redlegs manager 1957	Succeeded by last manager
Preceded by first manager	Geneva Redlegs Manager 1958	Succeeded by Reno DeBenedetti
Preceded by Larry Taylor	Geneva Redlegs Manager 1959	Succeeded by last manager
Preceded by Tony Pacheco	Palatka Redlegs Manager 1960	Succeeded by Mike Fandozzi
Preceded by Johnny Vander Meer	Topeka Redlegs Manager 1961	Succeeded by last manager
Preceded by Jerry Snyder	Macon Peaches Manager 1962–1963	Succeeded by Red Davis
Preceded by Don Heffner	San Diego Padres (PCL) Manager 1964–1965	Succeeded by Frank Lucchesi
Preceded by Frank Oceak Bruce Kimm Sam Perlozzo	Cincinnati Reds 3rd base coach 1966 1989 1993	Succeeded by Vern Benson Sam Perlozzo Bobby Valentine
Preceded by Jim Bragan	Montreal Expos 3rd base coach 1973–1975	Succeeded by Ozzie Virgil, Sr.
Preceded by Lee Elia	Philadelphia Phillies 3rd base coach 1982–1985	Succeeded by Lee Elia

[[Category:Visalia Redlegs players]]